The Secret of The Happiness of Balinese People

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Almost every time I met tourist from UK, US or Australia, I asked them the question, "What do you like best about Bali?" And although I got various answers like: the weather, the food, or the Bintang beer (you definitely should try this), the surf, and the shopping, but most of the time the answer I got is "the Balinese people". Why I asked? This time I got similar answers from them.


Because the Balinese people are so friendly, always smiling and always happy. That's the answer I got. Maybe you have question in your mind, where ever you go in Bali you will always meet friendly and happy Balinese, how can it be? This is the next question that I got from them. I am going to try to answer this question from an "insider" point of view, as a Balinese myself.


Hold on a sec! Here is a disclaimer: I am talking about the Balinese people in general. There are always exception, you'll meet some "not nice" Balinese, especially when we drive car or ride motor bike in the street. But the chance is you'll meet the nice Balinese more than 96,3% of the time, (including me :)). The next thing that needed to bear in mind is that this is not a empirical research result, it's merely a personal opinion.

Here are the secrets:



  • Balinese people are happy people because they are religious people. Surprise! The Balinese seek the balance of relationship between human and God, between human to other human, and human to animal or plants. This concept is known is Tri Hita Karana or The Three Things That Cause Happiness.

  • Balinese believe in Karma Phala and have high self awareness about Karma law. If you do good thing, you'll get good thing, but if you do bad thing, it is bad thing you'll get. This rule has rooted in our subconscious mind even since we were young. So, why do the bad thing?

  • Showing Gratitude. Balinese always are grateful, this shows in the form of temple festival or ceremony, thanking the God for the prosperity we have.

  • Balinese don't talk about weather. We talk about something else, our family or other topics, but never the weather. Maybe because we have consistently nice weather throughout the year.


So, it is not really a big secret, isn't it? It is something that you already now. I am only reminding you that.


Related posts:

This Time of The Year

Questions And Answers About Bali

Hello Sir Where Are You Going?




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